Memsahibs

'To come out to India as an untried Memsahib was, I think, what nowadays would be called a cultural shock. Take somebody say from Richmond and dump her down in this extraordinary country full of strange sights, smells and sounds and she could be very lonely.' Three Memsahibs, who joined their husbands in the British Raj between the wars, recall what it was like to be a woman in what was traditionally considered a man's country. A country where they were isolated from the Indian population and hedged round with imperial protocol, with little else to do other than run their homes and bring up their children. Life beyond the bungalow verandah could seem very alien and not a little frightening.